1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to manufacture of magnetic components, and more specifically to manufacturing of a magnetic core element with discretely distributed gaps.
2. Description of the Related Art
As known in the art, magnetic components such as inductors or transformers include at least one winding disposed about a magnetic core. Typically, a core assembly is fabricated from ferrite cores that are gapped and bonded together.
The magnetic core is subject to energy loss during operation. By including a gap in the magnetic core, the saturation current can be increased and the inductance of the magnetic device can be adjusted. However, magnetic flux may distribute outside the gap and influence the winding that surrounds the core, leading to extra energy loss and inductance shift.
One approach to solving this problem is dividing a relatively large gap into a plurality of discretely distributed gaps over the length of the magnetic core. By using the discretely distributed gaps, the magnetic flux does not influence the winding that surrounds the core. Further, the direction of the magnetic flux may be parallel with the winding, resulting in less loss.
However, it is difficult to form a miniaturized magnetic core with many discretely distributed gaps, which require parallel gaps with highly uniform gap width. Therefore, there is a need in this industry to provide an improved method for fabricating a magnetic core with discretely distributed gaps with reduced and uniform gap width.